Each Quadrant Is a Type of Magic
In the top right, we have hard-rational where the majority of the system is displayed or explained and it has clear rules and patterns. More importantly for the rational aspect, the readers can use logic and extrapolation to predict parts of the system they haven’t seen yet.
Shift over to the irrational side in a hard-irrational system, the majority of the system is still displayed or explained, but the reader, either through a lack of rules or information, cannot extrapolate or predict unseen portions of the system.
In the bottom left you have soft-irrational, where the majority of the system is hidden or unclear and the reader cannot extrapolate or predict unseen portions of the magic system.
Down in the bottom right you have soft-rational systems for the majority of the system is hidden or unclear, but the reader can extrapolate and predict portions of the system they haven’t seen yet.
At this point, I have a couple of things I want to stress. One none of this is binary. These are all sliding scales. It is possible to end up with a magic system that sits right in the middle of one of these boundaries. In general, I find it more helpful to say, well, it’s harder than it is soft or more rational than irrational. That helps me walk through other parts of building the system.
Let’s talk through a couple of examples and their corresponding types of magic.
